A journey down the rabbit hole of Rubik's-style puzzles

Having never solved a cube before, I was STOKED to get an on-camera, cheat-sheet-free solve last week [link]. While I remain convinced that, on a percentage basis, only a small sliver of the population can even solve a cube — and an even smaller population learned well after their brain atrophied and petrified post-adolescence — the competitive part of me can’t help but want to improve my solve time. There are more advanced and more efficient techniques out there, and I hope to tackle them at some point. And certainly my mechanics can use some work.

The number one tip on every speed-solving site and tutorial is…PRACTICE! And so I have practiced. A lot. Lo and behold, I’ve made remarkable progress. Indeed, today’s 1:46 (my personal best) means that I’ve shaved 71% off that 6-minute first timed solve!

Here are videos capturing my progress:

2:30 (Dec 1)

1:58 (Dec 3)

1:46 (Dec 4)

While I take credit for most of the progress, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that migrating from a Rubik’s-branded cube to a more advanced speed cube made a difference. These solves are on a white Dayan Zhanchi, which moves effortlessly, corners well, and does not lock-up. No wonder it was Feliks’ cube of choice for that fateful, world record setting 5.66 second solve.

REVISIONIST HISTORY: Although I posted this after my inaugural post, I’ve pre-dated it to keep things chronological.